Black Lives Matter

Last week, all social media platforms blacked out. I missed out. Recently, world events triggered my anxiety, and I needed a hiatus from the online world. Then blackouttuesday happened; I suddenly felt like I wasn’t doing my bit to serve the bigger purpose. However, I realised, whilst the black squares on its own show solidarity, we need real-life activism alongside it to make a difference. True change comes from actions, by taking a stance to racism and being anti-racist. By raising awareness of the black lives matter movement, their history, their oppression. If we don't have enough knowledge of that, what good is a few words copied from someone else's page? A knee-jerk reaction reflected via a meme, screenshot and shared? We need to educate and advocate why black lives matter right now, and why we need to make that our priority as a mass social movement in order for us to actually see change.

When the George Floyd case hit the news outlets and social media, it's safe to say we were all numb. Numb from everything; all the oppression, the injustice and inequality around the world. It seemed like it was happening in waves - one crime after another. Then that numbness turned to anger - searing, raging anger. Lockdown, isolation, murder. White privilege. No arrests, no justice. Everyone turned to their social media outlets to pour their heartbreak, their struggles, their experience of racism.

Whilst I think it's important to raise awareness of how racism and prejudice exists in every culture and should be challenged, it took a while for me to realise that our victimised experiences cannot compare to the oppression our black friends face. I have been subject to racism before because of my dark skin; I have grown up with name calling or being made to feel less than. Even today, I am faced with ignorant opinions and colourism slurs. However, I know that whatever racism I face (only by my own culture), it does not compare AT ALL to the racism my black friends face every day by ALL cultures. The oppression they and their ancestors faced every single day, still exists for some black people now, in 2020.

In the last week, it seems Britain is more comfortable in talking about a small minority of violent protestors rather than a campaign for racial equality. We are witnessing an accumulation of pent-up anger and frustration. For years, democracy has failed black people, resulting in the images we are seeing on the streets of our famous cities today. Boris Johnson himself has stated that anyone who wishes to tear down further statues of racists or slave traders will "face the full force of the law". But it begs the question as to why these statues are so important? Statues can only teach history if placed in the right environment. They shouldn’t be flaunted in city centres but placed in museums so that people can learn about our imperial past. They don't teach us history on the streets. Statues are put up to celebrate a person, their life. The statue of Edward Colston was put up to celebrate the man himself, in 1895. It is a history of Bristol, but it is a different type of history. The function of the statue is not to tell history but instead to say "Here is a great man!" and frankly, Colston was not a great man.

To further this, here in the UK, there is no curriculum teaching this history and the history of the slave trade. There is no curriculum teaching children that we are a very diverse and brilliant society. That we should all be accepted irrelevant of our backgrounds, our faith, our culture, our skin colour. This lack of education is where these skewed racial thoughts come from. The part of the stories that would make sense and be relevant to children are often omitted. We teach children about the abolition of the slave trade, but we don’t tell them about the story of the slave trade. We teach the Industrial revolution, but we don't teach about the cotton that came from the enslaved people in America to fuel those mills in Lancashire. We teach half-truths, and our history is made up of half-truths. Half histories so that it is no longer viable in a country that by the middle of this century will be one third BAME. It's time for us to find a new history to teach that is going to work for the country that WE ARE and the country that we are going to become.

As we all mourn the brutal and senseless murder of George Floyd as well as other black lives lost to white privileged crime, we need to remind ourselves of the ways in which we can help! Racism comes from a place of ignorance and a lack of education - something which is hugely lacking in this country. And the thing is, we can educate ourselves at any point we want. We have the biggest resource at the palm of our hands - Google. There really is no excuse. It's high time we all learnt to become respectful of those we live with in this world, as a human race.

Taking time to pause, think and reflect on what information needs to be shared is just as important as sharing it. Everyone is learning in different ways, and that’s ok. Read, research and reflect. Understand what you are reading and the context in which it is written. Taking time away from social media helped me do that. Read a book written by a black author. Listen to a podcast. Have a conversation. Pause, process and learn. Most importantly, don't expect people to change overnight. This level of racism against black lives is an engrained and systemic problem. Real change takes years to happen. Educating yourself to educate those around you continuously is the real step required in order to influence and make that change happen. Most importantly though, do it to educate yourself. Teach yourself to know better.

Written by Shummi.